diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 47414a3c04..c6a7dc711f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2007-02-09  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
+
+	* ext/alsa/gstalsa.c: (gst_alsa_find_device_name):
+	  Try to get devic-name from device string first, and from handle only
+	  as fallback (seems to yield better results and is more robust
+	  against buggy probing code on the application side).
+
 2007-02-08  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
 
 	Based on patch by: Julien Puydt <julien.puydt at laposte net>
diff --git a/ext/alsa/gstalsa.c b/ext/alsa/gstalsa.c
index 7653475fea..5d7f1ef831 100644
--- a/ext/alsa/gstalsa.c
+++ b/ext/alsa/gstalsa.c
@@ -451,17 +451,7 @@ gst_alsa_find_device_name (GstObject * obj, const gchar * device,
 {
   gchar *ret = NULL;
 
-  if (handle != NULL) {
-    snd_pcm_info_t *info;
-
-    GST_LOG_OBJECT (obj, "Trying to get device name from open handle");
-    snd_pcm_info_malloc (&info);
-    snd_pcm_info (handle, info);
-    ret = g_strdup (snd_pcm_info_get_name (info));
-    snd_pcm_info_free (info);
-  }
-
-  if (ret == NULL && device != NULL) {
+  if (device != NULL) {
     gchar *dev, *comma;
     gint devnum;
 
@@ -477,6 +467,16 @@ gst_alsa_find_device_name (GstObject * obj, const gchar * device,
     g_free (dev);
   }
 
+  if (ret == NULL && handle != NULL) {
+    snd_pcm_info_t *info;
+
+    GST_LOG_OBJECT (obj, "Trying to get device name from open handle");
+    snd_pcm_info_malloc (&info);
+    snd_pcm_info (handle, info);
+    ret = g_strdup (snd_pcm_info_get_name (info));
+    snd_pcm_info_free (info);
+  }
+
   GST_LOG_OBJECT (obj, "Device name for device '%s': %s",
       GST_STR_NULL (device), GST_STR_NULL (ret));